Flurry of emotions
by chloemcg
Summary: (One-shot) NALU. After having a nightmare, Lucy decides to take her mind off of it by going on a late night stroll. But what happens when she encounters a certain pink-haired dragon slayer. Can he cheer her up?


**Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Fairy tail franchise, all rights to the series belongs to their creators.**

 **A flurry of emotions**

* * *

The darkness...it was all encompassing.

Time was but an illusion or a blur.

It was as if the mere concept of time didn't exist in this realm, wherever it was, and there were no sounds or scents flowing around, just an eternal abyss. It was a deathly silent and motionless plain of existence that seemed to have no end or even a beginning —and Lucy Heartfilia found that she was the unfortunate soul suspended in this place.

She could hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing, taste nothing.

However she could feel something.

Her heart was pounding hard, palpating inside her chest as though trying to physically break out. Her skin was crawling so much that it made her feel like she had wriggly caterpillars squirming on every inch of her body and it was extraordinarily unnerving. Heck, she wanted to shake her body to try and rid herself of this sensation but she couldn't move a fraction of her body with the solitary exception of her eyes.

Lucy could feel her heart hammering harder and harder with each instant that passed.

Involuntarily she turned to look at something, she didn't know what it was because of how dark it was. A sudden feeling of dread overcome her and took her body in an ice cold grip so she could feeling nothing but this increasing unease because of this mysterious object that she was being forced to look at. She had to squint her eyes to see it and she could swear that —with blessed sound finally returning to her— she could hear a cluster of sinister whispers and pleas that all blended together.

She could hardly decipher them individually.

Lucy started to feel frightened when that foreign object from before started to light up in a blinding radiance, thus chasing a lot of the darkness away. She didn't want to believe what the thing turned out to actually be, her heart jumped high into her throat in panic as she started to back away from it.

It was the Eclipse gate.

Yet something was striking her as odd.

She wasn't able to move at all but she was somehow able to be mobile anyway, it was as though she was a puppet with her strings being pulled by some devilish puppeteer; her fright started to increase when the gate came closer and closer to her, an ominous rumbling echo of a sound shattered through the eerie silence like a stone to glass and she could feel her blood run so cold that she might had well plunged her whole body into ice cold water.

Closer...and closer...and closer.

Each step just brought her closer to the time travelling monstrosity of a gateway.

Each inch closer she got made her try hard to turn around and run but she couldn't move at all and was just brought so much closer to the gate. Her eyes begun to water and her voice became lost in her throat as she felt her ability to breathe diminish the nearer she came.

 _No...no, please no!_

She frantically tried to find her keys, trying to call her special Celestial spirit friends to try and help her, but she couldn't even move her arms to try and sift through her pockets.

She quickly realised in a sickening realisation that was on her own!

She cried internally, struggling with moving an inch to try and chase away the gate as those horrible doors flew open and the blinding light stung her right in the eyes. She cowered when an invisible force had suddenly come from nowhere and shoved her from behind. She stumbled right up to the doors —to that scarily piercing bright light— and then she found her voice.

 **NOOOOO!**

Her eyes flew open.

She shot upright in a panic, her gaze frantically searched her surroundings as she quickly tried to get away from the light that had previously engulfed her. Her pulse was racing erratically and her mind was throbbing.

Lucy gripped to her blankets tightly. All she could do was breathe and let her lungs expand and deflate with every single breath. She tried to calm herself and remind herself that what she envisioned wasn't real and was just a dream...or nightmare...she couldn't even help but cling on to her blankets, creasing the edges under her trembling fingertips.

She exhaled deeply, she practically melted back into bed with relief.

It was just a bad dream...

The celestial Mage couldn't help but feel frustrated with herself. The adventure with that accursed gate was over awhile ago! The stupid thing had been destroyed by her and her beloved Fairy Tail guild.

The gate was to never be opened or used again because nobody should have to change or alter time —only the desperate and/or foolish would dare try to mess with the steady flow of times river...she knew that better than anyone. Still she had to wonder why would she still think about it, let alone dream about it.

She sent a small glance to her left and have a look at her oak bedside table. On the surface of said bedside table, gleaming brightly beneath the moonlight that shone through her window. She stared longingly at the Celestial keys when the sudden urge to summon one of her Celestial spirit friends for comfort had risen within her; she didn't want to have these dreams plague her for the rest of the night.

Yet she hesitated.

While she hated her dreams at times, she didn't wish to needlessly summon one of her celestial spirits just because she had a bad dream either! Besides it was in the middle of the night and she didn't wish to put some of her close friends through a sleepless night for a dumb reason such as this.

Lucy decided against it.

"No...that wouldn't be fair on them, they work so hard already and I can't put them through a sleepless night because of something so stupid and childish..."

She sighed to herself doubtfully.

Lucy settled down and tried to relax in her bed. She pulled her own blankets back over herself and closed her brown eyes in an effort to try and drift back into the realm of slumber. She thought about what had been going on lately and she couldn't help but ponder on what adventure that she and her friends would embark on next...she thought about how many jewels her team and herself would accumulate during these adventures and citizens requests.

But her thoughts were running too wild.

She just couldn't turn her brain off.

It was because of this that she was still awake fifteen minutes later and still trying in vain to fall asleep. She grew frustrated as she tossed and turned in her bed to try and get into a comfortable position that would help her go back to sleep -however it was all for naught and it took awhile but she finally gave up on trying to go back to sleep and she stared up pitifully at the ceiling which was such a dull white/gray colour.

She'd have to see if she could get permission from her landlady to repaint it.

The young lady slowly clapped her hand over her temple in frustration because she really wanted to go back to sleep and dream of nice fluffiness but each time she closed her eyes she'd only see weapons of mass destruction that she feared deeply. She reluctantly gave up and her deep brown eyes peeled open with slight fear shimmering inside her eyes.

She took a quick look at her clock and saw that the time read, 2:30 PM.

 _I can't sleep anymore...maybe a walk will help._

Lucy thought to herself as she reluctantly threw off her duvet and proceeded to climb out of bed and then she sluggishly climbed to her feet and reached for her bedside table so she could grab her Celestial spirit summoning keys and shove them into her pocket just to be safe encase she's ambushed or something.

Then the young woman proceeded to lumber tiredly straight over towards the coat hanger and snatched up a fuzzy dressing gown before throwing it over her shoulders.

Then she walked out the door, closing it behind her.

* * *

Flakes of snow gently fluttered feebly in the evening air, the ground was covered in an ankle-deep blanket of snow and the wind whistled softly.

It was late into the night yet there were still a couple homes with lights out and there was the rare passerby whom roamed the streets of Magnolia, carrying out their lives despite it being so late at night. Admittedly the streets looked much brighter at night -the sight may not have compared to the rainbow cherry blossoms on the night of the Hanami festival, but it still looked quite pretty.

Lucy slowly strolled through the town.

She was so lost in the sights that she was vaguely aware that she was walking through the snow wearing nothing but her nightgown and her dressing gown - each little flake that touched her skin felt like tiny sharp daggers and her bare feet were beginning to become painfully numb from stepping in the slushy squishy snow.

She was entranced by the beauty of it all that hardly noticed any of the discomfort.

But then the Celestial Mage was snapped from her thoughts when the novelty of the pretty city lights wore off. She could finally feel the intense stinging cold touching both her and her poor reddened feet, she had no clue as to why she blocked out all ability for sensation but it quickly ended nevertheless since she let out a loud shriek as she quickly hopped quickly for the nearest bench.

The bench felt like it was a thousand miles away when it was, in actuality, just a metre or two away.

"Yoooowch! Cold, cold, cold, cold!"

She squealed while bouncing straight for the bench. She stood on her tippy-toes and tried to run to the bench without having to use the soles of her feet or her heels, but the task quickly proved impossible and she made the purely desperate action of leaping in large distances to the bench which now seemed like her saving grace from the freezing cold snow she stood on.

"Why didn't I think to bring some warmer clothes!?" She mumbled to herself in frustration. She grit her teeth to contain her strangled cries from her painfully tingling toes, she just wanted to get a little further. She hopped a bit more, it felt like it took forever until she could finally sit down on the wooden bench. The second she did sit, she actually hugged it in pure joy.

Lucy sighed in relief, reclining back in the comfortable wooden bench.

It wasn't warm, but at least her feet were pried away from the thick snow that surrounded her from all sides down on the ground below her. She was sincerely thankful for that little blessing in disguise...alas her mind started to go wandering once again when she watched the gentle snowflakes continue their descent down towards the ground. Lucy stared out into open space, watching as the snowflakes drifted slowly down to the frozen ground.

She shuddered from the frigid temperatures when a sudden breeze blew by and caught her completely off-guard and she _seriously_ started to regret not packing some warmer stuff when she went out on this late night excursion...

"Lucy?" A voice snapped her from her daze.

Lucy looked up to find the source of the voice and she was shocked when her eyes caught sight of a familiar face.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Natsu Dragneel stood over her and seemed just as surprised to see Lucy as she was to see him.

He looked more properly dressed for a late-night outing, though, especially with the tails of his signature scarf billowing against the icy cold winds. For the sake of everything, he even had the common sense to put on a thick coat so he'd keep toasty warm...and his fire magic probably just made him a bit more immune to the cold. His deep obsidian eyes were wide and glistening with concern for the blonde Celestial Mage.

Lucy jumped with fright.

The blonde celestial wizard was so startled that she very nearly fell off the bench from seeing the dragon slayer so suddenly. Her eyes were massive and her pupils became dilated to communicate her shock.

"A-Ah, Natsu! What are you doing up and out so late?"

Natsu folded his arms and gave Lucy a frown.

"I should be asking _you_ the same thing..."

Lucy felt her frustration build. She wanted to give the pink-haired young man a swift slap to the face for that snarky remark but she just looked back up at the skies above when she found herself unable to quite meet his gaze. She suddenly felt a pang of guilt for some reason, maybe it was just the exhaustion she felt.

Natsu seemed to notice her absentmindedness and the concern returned to his eyes. He didn't like to see the young lady like this and it made his heart feel as though it were being pierced by one of Gray's ice incantations for some reason or another. But, instead of asking her what was wrong, he just promptly took a seat beside her and looked up at the sky with her.

Seconds ticked by and there was nothing but this calming quiet.

The sky looked so pretty and so hypnotic with the stars twinkling and the little specs of snow falling and twirling around through the air with grace and a beautiful bright blue-purple aurora swirled and squirmed around up there to make the skies even more enchanting. Wintry nights in Earthland were so stunningly beautiful yet so frigid cold at the same time.

The two Fairy tail wizards looked up and observed in complete and utter silence.

The moment was ruined, though, when another chill caught Lucy off guard. She quickly hugged her own arms and ducked her head in between her shoulders, trying in vain to contain her shivering and trembling from the freezing cold atmosphere that clung to her like a bird with its prey. She closed her eyes and tried to wait for the cold winds to pass on by and leave.

She cracked an eye open when she felt a bit of toasty comforting warmth.

Natsu smiled at her. His hand suddenly ignited into bright flames, the small fire crackled and sizzled as it rested inside the dragon slayer's open palm. The air around the two had become warmer and a little more beautiful thanks to the bright and gentle flames that not only provided warmth but a little happiness too.

"There. How's that?" He asked her.

Lucy felt so grateful that Natsu could control fire at that moment and she really wanted to convey her thanks by hugging him, but instead she lowered her head to try and conceal the bright cherry red blush lines decorating her cheeks and smiled a little bit in appreciation.

"It's nice. Thanks."

The dragon slayer rubbed the back of his neck gingerly in embarrassment with his free hand, minding his scarf, and muttered lowly. "Um...d-don't mention it."

An awkward moment of silence passed before Lucy, finally getting herself to stop shivering, decided to break the ice and ask, "Shouldn't Happy be with you? He usually follows you everywhere,"

Natsu's head perked up when his cute blue feline friend was mentioned. He only offered Lucy a shrug of nonchalance. "Eh. He's asleep back at our house."

Another long silence passed, leaving the two Fairy tail wizards to think as they stared out into the gentle flurry that fell right in front of them. Natsu looked quite concerned but Lucy had no clue as to what was concerning him so much. She found it strange that her friend was out for a walk so late at night, was there something on his mind too? Did he do this frequently? Actually, knowing Natsu Dragneel, he probably did in all likelihood...

"...Wanna talk about it?" Natsu asked, shooting Lucy a questioning look.

Lucy looked at the pink-haired flame wizard with a slightly surprised expression. Did he already know that she had a nightmare? Lucy looked down and she could feel her heart weighing heavily in her chest as she felt her pulse throb and her lip quiver -whether it was from cold or from emotional pain she had no clue. She couldn't bear to look the salmon-haired man in the eye whilst she admitted following a deep exhale that shown itself in a small mist that blew from her mouth.

Besides, there was no use hiding anything from Natsu since he was very intuitive as well as hot tempered, if she said it was nothing then he would probably find out the truth eventually and why would she prolong the inevitable?

"I don't know why..." She admitted, ashamed, "...b-but I can't stop having nightmares about the Eclipse gate, they scare the daylights out of me and I c-can't..." She trailed off as she ran out of things to say. She still couldn't look the fire Dragon slayer in the eye and she kept her eyes on the blanket-of-snow-covered-ground below. Her heart weighted a ton now as she hugged her arms and brought her knees up to her chest.

"Lucy. Look at me."

Lucy snapped her head up, finally bring herself to look Natsu in the eye and a pang of shock and surprise hit her straight in the heart.

Natsu had reached his free hand forwards and curled a finger under her chin, he had a gentle gleam shimmering inside his obsidian eyes and a small frown had manifested itself on to his lips. He had this look of patience that was also riddled with very small ridges of sternness. "The Eclipse cannon was dismantled by us, you don't need to be frightened by it anymore...and even if it were still kicking I wouldn't keep worrying about it because I would be there to keep you safe. Understand?"

Lucy registered the gentle seriousness in his tone, and she couldn't help but feel soothed by his mere presence, nor could she even dare to try and look away since her brown eyes were completely locked on his onyx ones.

Natsu blinked and kept his focus completely trained on the stellar wizard.

"But I don't want you using it. You have to promise me that, no matter how bad things get, you won't go back in time because I can't risk losing you...you're my friend."

Lucy's eyes started to swell with tears and her lower lip began to quiver. She couldn't understand why but hearing the pink-haired Fire wizard say these things made her heart ache beyond belief, it felt as though someone was stuffing a sword through her chest with the blade burrowing straight through her heart. How could he even think she'd go through that accursed gate? She exhumed a heavy sigh and she made an attempt to wipe away the tears.

"I promise I won't go in there again."

"...Here, I wanted to give you this," Natsu reached into his pocket and handed a small package to the young blonde seated beside him.

Lucy read the label.

 **'To Lucy: From Happy and Natsu'**

She couldn't help but roll her eyes, she could easily tell that Natsu wrote the label because only he would have such messily squiggly writing and seeing how he wrote it made her giggle enternally. She hardly wasted any time before she tore the wrapping paper off and she gasped in shock and wonder at what the gift turned out to be.

It was a platinum chain with a heart on the end of it. Lucy carefully unclamped the latch at the side and opened it up -inside the locket contained a small photo of three figures: a blue cat with pretty white wings, a man with spikey shaggy pink hair wearing a big fanged-smirk and a smiling young lady posing beside them while giving a big thumbs up.

Lucy's eyes started to water again and she felt like a ball of emotions.

Natsu instantly grew concerned when he saw more tears in her eyes.

"H-Hey! What's wrong? Don't you like it? I'm sorry, I thought you-"

He was cut off abruptly when Lucy tossed herself at him and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. A huge smile pulled at the corners of her lips and tears streamed down each of her cheeks. Small sobs and shaky inhales made Lucy's body tremble a little bit as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, dampening his scarf with her tears.

"Th-Thank you...Thank you so much!"

Her voice was muffled by his scarf but Natsu heard her words clearly enough. Natsu was so shocked that the fire he had in his hand had quickly died down a bit, he swiped his fiery hand away to avoid burning her by accident. The dragon slayer cleared his throat a bit when he quickly recovered from the shock, his face turned a dark red colour and he muttered lowly.

"Y-Y-You're welcome..."

Natsu felt unsure of what to do at first but he soon warmed up to the idea and closed his eyes as he let his eyes close and a peaceful grin curled on his lips as he hugged the young woman tightly, making sure to extinguish the flame in his hand before he held on to her.

Lucy hesitated for a moment or two before she finally rested her head on Natsu's shoulder. She could feel the muscles under her ear tense up for a few seconds before they relaxed once more and she felt her rich brown eyes drift close as she let out a deep exhale, her breath a mere fog as she eased into the comforting warmth of her dear friend and crush by her side.

The silence was awkward and lengthy, but neither Fairy tail wizard wanted the moment to end.

Natsu glanced up at the sky, seeing nothing but really dark gray clouds above, but he smirked in a way that revealed his glinting ivory fangs while he continued to hug Lucy close to him in a comfortingly protective manner.

"Gorgeous night, ain't it?"

Lucy's eyes were closed but she still nodded against him as she felt his body warmth seep through her nightgown and keep her nice and toasty. She hummed in agreement beneath her breath while she relaxed in her friend/crush's embrace and her head never left his shoulder.

Natsu shifted his position on the bench and smirked slyly at the blonde. He didn't let go of Lucy, but he did manage to adjust her position in his hold so he could have a bit of a glimpse of her face. He managed to hold down a michevious giggle by shoving it as far down into his throat as it could go in order to conceal it. He commented to her with a slight wink of his left eye.

"But you're still pretty weird."

Lucy's eyes opened slightly, narrowed angrily.

"We're having a moment here, don't ruin it..."

* * *

 **A/N: Here's a new Fairy tail fic, with NALU in it!**

 **I've been on a bit of a roll when it comes to publishing fanfics this month and Christmas isn't so far away now. I can't wait! I adore this couple because they are just so cute together and I couldn't resist but to put out a chapter like this. I hope that it's good enough for everybody, though, and you guys like it.**

 **Have a merry Christmas, everybody.**

 **-Chloemcg**


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